speaking to news4 about the local defense jobs that are on the chopping block. how about some football with some real referees. good evening. i'm jim vance. >> i'm doreen gentzler. we're keeping an eye on severe storms moving through our region right now. chief meteorologist doug kammerer is tracking the radar. doug, what's going on? >> we're watching the severe storms just off to the west now, entering portions of fauquier county and close to loudoun county. one down to shenandoah county, frederick county, virginia, very close to the winchester area, and this storm coming through front royal right now, a lot of lightning, and one more storm up here just to the north. this storm we're going to watch very closely. northern fauquier county right now. it's about to enter loudoun county. i wouldn't be surprised if there's a severe thunderstorm warning put in with that county, too. it goes until 6:30 this evening. we continue to watch for these storms. more showers and a few thunderstorms up into portions of the panhandle of west virginia and also through

frederick county, maryland. watch what happens when we widen out. this is part of a bigger storm system that is spinning here and will continue to spin through the region. so i think just about everybody is going to see a pretty good chance for some strong to potentially severe storms. i'll continue to give you the latest on these. we have a brand-new warning, you can hear it right now, and i'm assuming -- nope, this guy down here in page county, and warren county. this includes the woodstock area. brand-new severe thunderstorm warning. shenen do, page, warren county. i'll see what time this goes to. this is until 6:45 tonight. we'll continue to keep you posted on the severe storms rolling through our region. >> all right. thank you, doug. now, to politics, in the battleground of virginia, one of the critical swing states for president obama and mitt romney. both candidates held rallies in the commonwealth today. northern virginia bureau chief julie carey spoke to romney in springfield. but we begin with steve

handelsman on capitol hill. >> reporter: this was not only in our backyard, it was something unusual, nearly simultaneous rallies by these presidential candidates in the same state. but they looked so much different. president obama's massive and raucous, the one mitt romney staged just south of the beltway, the one i attended, much more laid back, much smaller. some of the romney supporters said they wanted more passion. ten miles from the pentagon, in springfield, virginia, mitt romney spoke to veterans, blaming president obama for the agreement with republicans to slash defense spending if there's no budget deal by january 1st. >> the idea of cutting our military commitment by $1 trillion over this decade is unthinkable. and devastating. >> reporter: romney's polls in this battleground state looked potentially devastating. he's trailing by 3% to 7%. romney backers like dave mill are worried. >> he has to get a little more

fire in the belly. >> reporter: more romney, the businessman, suggests soccer mom, monica cameron. >> it's all about the economy. >> reporter: president obama was in virginia, pushing an elitist image of romney in a tv ad to run here. putting faces on the 47% of americans romney said he sees as dependent on government. >> i see hard-working virginians. i see students trying to work their way through college. >> reporter: the president was with students who typically pay no income tax like many soldiers. >> i see a whole bunch of veterans who served this country with bravery and distinction. >> reporter: amid the cheering veterans at the romney rally was dave clan, undecided because clan said, romney's economic plans lack details. >> and i've got some doubts that there's really any depth behind some of those. >> reporter: you're not ready to commit to mitt romney in virginia? >> no, i'm not. >> reporter: voters in another

battleground, iowa, began voting today. ballots being cast before the presidential debates. i'm steve handelsman, news4. after the speech in springfield today, governor romney talked about what he would do to cut to avoid slashing defense spending. julie carrie asked him about polls that show him trailing the president. julie? >> mitt romney made his case today for becoming the next commander in chief. and in our interview he made it clear he's ready to cut other areas of government spending to prevent deep defense cuts from taking place. >> appreciate you being out here today. thank you. >> reporter: outside the springfield legion post and earlier inside, these veterans and their families got close-up time with mitt romney, winning the support of the military community could give the republican nominee's campaign a boost. but even some romney supporters have urged him to provide more

specifics about how he'll cut trillions and keep defense spending intact. he starts by scaling back health care reform. >> i'll instead return to a setting where individuals are able to make their own choices in health care rather than having the federal government tell them what kind of insurance they have to have. number two, there are other programs that some people like, i even like that we're going to have to cut or eliminate. >> reporter: no more money for amtrak, pbs or the national endoubt for the arts, and the federal work force will not be spared either. >> we'll slowly through attrition reduce government employment by 10%. that saves about $47 billion a year. we have $500 billion in savings per year. that combined with the growing economy at 4% gets us to a balanced budget. >> reporter: as romney hit president obama hard on looming defense cuts, the president used his newest ad to remind the 47% of americans romney called government dependent in secretly recorded comments.

>> my campaign is about 100% of americans, helping people get out of poverty and have the middle class have a more pros pous future. >> reporter: i asked how he hoped to turn things around, he pointed to next week's debates. >> i have a great opportunity with debates to talk about my vision for the country, the president will talk about his. those who believe we want bigger government, more intrusive government, trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see will vote for him. those who believe we should encourage economic growth and create more jobs will vote for me. >> that first presidential debate is set for next wednesday night. romney's supporters tell me they're counting on a performance that they hope will tighten this race once again. doreen? >> julie carey. a plea from the wife of the capitol hill man beaten to the point of brain injury last month. this says we have a new revelation about evidence in the case. it all came out of a court hearing on the eastern market attack. jackie bensen was there.

jackie? >> reporter: doreen, this is really about two crimes, two hours, and half a city apart. it was these grainy images from a gas station that gave detectives their first big break and ultimately led to an arrest. abby maslin said her husband who has had four brain surgeries, and is in rehabilitation for devastating trauma to his left eye and head, is aware of the development. >> i actually showed him one of the news reports, just a few minutes ago, and he was pretty astounded. >> reporter: a tip received september 21st led police to a silver hyundai and a man named tommy branch. court records show branch was arrested august 18th at 3:30 a.m. along with two other young men, sunny cute, charged as an adult and michael moore, for allegedly robbing three men of their cell phones on 18th street northwest. court documents indicate officers found a black iphone. they were unaware across town near eastern market on capitol hill the owner of that phone,

thomas maslin lay unconscious on a stranger's home where he wouldn't be found for hours. he had been robbed and savagely beaten. days later police released the images of men in a sill vary car trying to use maslin's credit card. the black iphone which had been sitting in the property control division for a month was examined and found to belong to t.c. maslin. >> i want people to know that they have a social responsibility in these situations, if they see something, i don't care if they're not sure what the situation is. it is so much better to say something, and to be sure, that you have told the people, the appropriate people, than to let it go. because there's a chance he could have gotten help sooner. >> reporter: now, in regard to the iphone issue, abby maslin said it points out the need for better communication between police in different parts of the city, but make no mistake, she and her family are very grateful for these arrests.

jackie bensen, news4. it has been one year now since a hit-and-run accident killed a young mother from prince george's county. police are now hoping somebody find her killer. today the u.s. park police asked everyone to take another look at the evidence in the case. it happened at the intersection of nailer road and suitland parkway. that's in temple hills, maryland. it happened just after midnight on september 10th, 2011. 27-year-old ebony johnson was trying to cross the westbound lanes of the parkway when she was hit. the driver left the scene without stopping, and then several more vehicles ran over johnson. >> it was probably maybe four or five vehicles, and only one of those vehicles did stop. >> i believe if that first car would have stopped, she wouldn't have got hit by several other cars. and she could probably still be alive to this day. >> police say a local auto mechanic or body shop may have repaired the first car that hit

johnson. they say it was an acura rl or 3.5 rl. the model years between 1996 and 1999. the paint is either what they call new black pearl, or flamenco black pearl metallic. the number of the paint color is nh592p. a protest for an end to evictions today. they were handcuffed for blocking traffic on wisconsin avenue. they were protesting outside fannie mae headquarters. they were calling for an end to evictions and demanding solutions to keep people in their homes. executives from fannie mae met with the protesters to hear their concerns. fannie mae says it is focused on helping homeowners who are struggling to keep their properties. breaking news tonight. the man who tried to extort money from robert griffin iii pled guilty. he's 25 years old.

and he admitted to threatening to release information that he said would damage griffin's reputation if he didn't get $1 million. the fbi helped in the negotiations that led to arresting hurd. he's facing up to five years in prison. he'll be sentenced in november. baltimore ravens and cleveland browns, tonight fans of both teams might have something in common to cheer about. thursday night football game will be officiated by the nfl's regular crews for the first time this season. dan hellie here now with more on that. this is good news. >> vance, all is good in the football world, at least for now. the nfl has its officials back starting with the browns/ravens game. the league had locked out the officials during the contract negotiations. nfl commissioner roger goodell and mike shanahan, among those who are relieved to have the new

eight-year deal in place. >> it's good to get them back. and i have nothing against replacement officials, in fact i thought they really did a pretty good job. but it's hard if you don't have the practice. it's nice to get the pros back for obvious reasons. and i know they gave us their best shot. it's tough to really be good when you don't have the practice. >> labor negotiations, and labor management disputes are difficult periods. and what's most difficult about it is, you have the two parties. but you have a lot of parties outside the room. they get impacted by it. starting with our fans. and we're sorry to have to bring our fans through that. we're sorry to bring the general public through that. that's the unfortunate part of the labor/management disputes. >> the replacement officials in last week's ravens game had zero nfl experience. tonight, 72 years of nfl

officiating experience. coming up, the hidden war the military is battling in its own ranks. >> i knew joining the military was going to be a sacrifice. this wasn't the intended sacrifice i was willing to make. >> someone defaced the fire chief at the firehouse. just in the last hour, a big announcement about metro's plans for baseball fans with the nationals in the play-offs. and a new revelation in the art world may explain what's behind mona lisa's smile.

it's the ultimate dishonor to u.s. soldiers serving their country. the department of defense estimates that 19,000 service members were sexually assaulted last year. nbc news natalie morales spoke to female soldiers who say they were raped and she asked defense secretary leon panetta what's being done to stop it. >> how many of you were raped while you were serving nur country? how many of your assailants served prison time for your rape?

how many of you felt like you were personally retaliated against? wow. show of hands almost says it all. these are jus a few of the women and men who say they've been raped in the military. last year, more than 3,000 service members reported sexual assaults. but according to the department of defense, that's only a tiny representation of the real number. which is closer to 19,000. because most victims don't come forward. and of the cases that are reported, only a fraction are prosecuted. >> i knew joining the military was going to be a sacrifice. this wasn't the intended sacrifice i was willing to make. >> i think we owe all of those who have been impacted, not just an apology, but we owe them the effort to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

there's no place in this department. >> reporter: secretary of defense leon panetta said since taking over last year he's made this issue a top priority and points to a number of changes, including allowing victims to move away from their assailants, new special victims units and pushing reporting higher up the chain of command. but he admits for decades this has been a problem the military has been sweeping under the rug. >> you have lost men and women who were willing to lay their lives on the line to serve their country. and have been forced to pay a very high price for that. >> i guess i want them to know that as difficult as their experience has been, that we are going to learn from that. >> you can see natalie's full report tonight on "rock center" with brian williams at 10:00. prime minister benjamin n t

netanyahu told the united nations time is running out to prevent iran from making nuclear weapons. he illustrated what he believes is the progress iran has made in the production of a nuclear weapon. he said iran will probably be finished with the second stage by this spring. after that, he said, tehran's nuclear program will move very quickly and be almost impossible to stop. he urged the u.s. and the rest of the world to set a clear linlin line. president obama said there is still time for diplomacy. a lawsuit against jetblue airlines today. it stems from a pilot's rant last year. passengers feared for their lives when the captain started running through the cabin screaming about september 11th. he was charged with interference with a flight crew but ruled not

guilty by reason of insanity. doug's back with more about the unstable weather moving through our area. >> we've got severe storms out there, that will continue to rumble through. most of them still off to the west of the metro region. but getting closer by the minute. right now, one thing you'll see, the cloud cover here. to the left, you see a little bit more in the way of clearing. to the right, though, as you look past the sun, you're looking at some of the thunderstorm clouds off in the distance. and they are getting closer out there right now. you can see what we're talking about. showers and storms well west of i-95. right along i-81 and moving to the east, a couple of severe thunderstorm warnings, page, warren county, that's until 6:45. and northwestern portions of fauquier county, that until 6:30 tonight. i would not be surprised to see another warning that could include loudoun county and the rest of fauquier coming up in any minute. let's look at some of these

storms. a lot of lightning associated with these. these are right along 66, and just to the east of 81 now. they're moving to the north and east about 25 miles an hour. and as they do so, they will be very close to potomac river. talking about fairfax county, montgomery county, and close to the d.c. metro area and beltway in about the next hour and a half. we're seeing about 7:45, 8:00 for these storms to start rumbling through our region. a closer look here, these around the front royal area, these storms came through woodstock a little bit earlier, with some hail. we are seeing not just hail, we're seeing strong winds, upwards of 50, 60 miles an hour. a lot of lightning and very heavy rain. to the north, not quite as strong. northern fauquier county, just to the north of marshall along route 50 and 17, and front royal, just got done with one storm. you've got another storm making its way your way. that one continues to be severe there. up to the north, around frederick, just some showers or some moderate to heavy rain from time to time.

not a lot of thunder and lightning with these. but this storm continues to move off to the north and east as well. as we widen out, we'll show you what's causing this. had is a fairly strong storm system. you've got a couple of areas of spin in the atmosphere. anytime you have spin in the atmosphere, it allows for bu buoyan buoyancy. we have all of these storms to go before all said and done with. i think it could be a fairly active night tonight. out there today, high temperature of 85 degrees. a very warm, summer-like day out there. low of 67. sunset tonight, 6:56. we're about ten degrees above average and still sitting at about 78 degrees. still very warm. and a little humid. dew point coming in at about 64 degrees. 68 in winchester. 70 in martinsburg. 81 and dry around fredericksburg and 79 in la plata. to the north, that's where we

have the best chance of seeing some of that rain. that's because of an area of low pressure. tomorrow, we'll see the front meander right across our region. maybe another chance of some strong storms tomorrow. but i don't think they'll be quite as widespread as they will be tonight. scattered showers, strong thunderstorms, maybe severe. temperature 72 to 77. in the next couple of days, we'll see high temperatures tomorrow, about where they were today, into the low to mid-80s. high of around 82. saturday looking dry, but cooler by about ten degrees. a high of 73. not a bad day saturday. even sunday, just a few showers, but cooler weather starting to move in. we'll move back to our fall-like weather over the next few days. so say good-bye to the nice warm weather we've seen here. >> sounds good. thank you, doug. students took video of what their school bus driver was really doing behind the wheel on

the way to school. the bizarre twist in the death of an elderly man hit by a bus in virginia. the family speaking out about a questionable charge in that case. let's make a deal. the referees finally back in the nfl. the redskins trying to avoid an ugly 1-3 start against the buccaneers. and bryce is nice. rookie slugger making history once again. e.

the middle class, who move our country forward. work hard. raise families. and keep america strong. but mitt romney's budget plan will hurt the middle class. raising taxes on the average family by up to $2000 dollars. while giving a tax break of $250,000 dollars to multi-millionaires. doesn't mitt romney understand, we can't rebuild america...by tearing down the middle class. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

tonight there is drama again creating even more friction in the d.c. fire department. >> someone drew a mustache on a picture of chief ellerby. it may seem like a joke, but as tom sherwood reports, it's actually against the law. >> reporter: this d.c. firehouse on florida avenue northeast is one of the oldest in the city

still operating. but sources tell news4 work came to a standstill wednesday afternoon. senior officers were investigating a destruction of property crime. someone at engine 10 it drawn a cartoon mustache on the official photo, like this one, of chief kenneth ellerby and hung it upside down in the station. a deputy chief and a lieutenant dressed down the company. part of it was captured on audio obtained by news4. the officials demanding respect for the chief, and threatening criminal charges. >> you don't want to be here in this agency, or under the direction of the fire chief, there's nothing holding you back. but as long as he's the fire chief, we all have to respect him. the reason i asked who handled the picture is because there are going to be some charges. at that point, whatever the fire chief decides to do, because at that point you're at his mercy.

>> reporter: police were also called in. a formal crime report was filed, and evidence technicians apparently dusted the mustached photo frame for fingerprints. but at d.c.'s fire department headquarters thursday afternoon, chief ellerby downplayed the whole incident. what's happening there? are you investigating how people are treating your picture? >> no. i heard about it. but it's probably just something that's been blown out of proportion. i talked to our internal affairs, so don't even worry about it. roars closed case? >> closed case. i guess whether they like me or not, i'll be the chief. i can't worry about that kind of stuff. we have a lot of serious stuff to take care of. to think about. and, you know, putting muss attach mustaches on pictures is not a high priority. right now, president obama and governor mitt romney are fighting for votes in virginia. the two campaigns both made stops in virginia today.